Important Considerations In Choosing A 3rd Party Licensing Platform

26/03/2015 Terry Gaul

If you have decided to integrate a 3rd party licensing solution, you’ve made the right choice. But now which 3rd party solution should you choose?

If you have decided to integrate a 3rd party licensing solution for your software application, you’ve made the right choice. By doing so, you’ve freed up your developers to do what they do best — write code; you’ve given your marketing team the ability to deliver the software in a manner that is most desirable for the customers in discrete market segments; and, you’ve protected and monetized your software so that you generate the revenues that you deserve from your development and commercialization efforts.

But now the question is which 3rd party solution should you choose? There are several options out there and each solution offers a different approach to licensing. In making your decision, there are several key factors to consider:

Licensing Flexibility — the licensing platform of choice should enable you to create, deliver, activate, update and manage licenses using the business model that’s optimum for your customers without compromise, whether it is single user licenses, network licenses, feature on-demand licenses, demo/trial licenses, pay-per-use licenses, or whatever license model you dream up. This licensing flexibility gives your marketing team the tools they need to define and deliver the product in the optimal manner for each unique market segment and generate the most revenue.

License Security — the licensing platform should provide mechanisms to securely store and deliver licenses, whether it is via a hardware device (Dongle) or PC-bound soft license file. Dongles offer the highest security and portability from PC to PC while soft licenses offer the fastest delivery and activation. Either way, the licensing system should ensure that only authenticated, licensed users can activate and utilize the software.

Easy Integration into Your Business Processes — for ease-of-use and to reduce costs, the licensing solution should integrate seamlessly into your existing ERP, CRM, eCommerce or other business processes using industry standard tools such as SOAP. It should also be capable of accessing your existing databases, such as Oracle, MySQL, and MS-SQL. And, it should have a customer facing portal that can be branded and customized to support your end-users.

License Activation Options — the solution should provide activation options that are best suited for your business model. You should have the flexibility to activate licenses online from within the software application or via an internet web portal; or offline via file transfer from the computer with the software application to another computer with access to the portal.

Hosting Flexibility —the solution should provide you with the option to host your license server on a local web server or host and manage in the cloud of the provider of the licensing system.

Software Monetization — in addition to licensing flexibility, the solution should provide data mining, analytics and reporting capabilities to give you the ability to make sound business decisions and the agility to shift your marketing strategy as market requirements change.

Vendor Reliability — choose a 3rd party licensing partner that you can trust. How long have they been in business? What is their business strategy — are they dedicated to licensing or do they have other interests? Who are their key customers? How good is their support?

At Wibu-Systems, we have focused solely on software protection and secure licensing for more than 25 years and we remain committed to innovation and continuity for the future. Our ongoing mission is to accompany the growth of your business with stability, expertise, and long-term vision. Learn more about CodeMeter License Central, our comprehensive solution that enables you to easily create, manage and distribute your licenses. I invite you to contact us to discuss your licensing needs, or try our licensing solution with the CodeMeter Evaluation System.

Contributor

Terry Gaul

Vice President Sales USA

Terry Gaul is a sales and business development professional with extensive experience in the software and technology sectors. He has been involved with software protection and licensing technologies for more than 20 years and currently serves as Vice President of Sales at Wibu-Systems USA. When he is not helping customers with software licensing, Terry typically can be found coaching his daughters' soccer teams or camping with his family on the Maine coast.